The Midnight Warrior
by FanGirlToTheMax204
Summary: After everything the "perfect" hero Percy Jackson had been through, the only reason he hadn't cracked was that he had the most sturdy foundation you could think of to keep him grounded: Annabeth Chase and a camp he called home with campers that he called family. What will happen when that foundation crumbles? *After Giant War*No Perartemis*[warning:abuse,swears,violence,blood,ptsd]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey so this is my first published fanfiction and I'm really nervous but oh well. I've read so many incredible fics and have always wanted to write one myself; see what I'm capable of. If you have any comments, critiques, suggestions, or criticism of any kind let me know by leaving a review :)**

**I wrote this story in my history class and forgot about it for a while (like 3-4 months) but I found it again and decided to publish it. I had a better idea of where I want this story to go at the time but I kinda forgot it, whoops.**

**I'm always open to suggestions and I'm always open to know how I can make this story better. I will always give credit where credit is due if I use a suggestion. Anyway, I really hope you like this fic so without further ado (whatever that even means lol)**

Disclaimer: I do not take credit for the creation of any of the characters or settings you recognize from Rick Riordan's books.

* * *

Annabeth POV

It was a quiet morning at Camp Half-Blood. A certain peace had settled among all the campers after the war with Gaea had been won and the primordial goddess has been sent back into her hopefully now eternal sleep.

Annabeth awoke that morning with a bucket of water being dumped on her head at 3 am. She grabbed her dagger and looked around her cabin bewildered. Her eyes landed on a snickering teenage boy at her window, trying and failing to contain his laughter. She glared daggers at the boy she recognized as one of the best pranksters at camp… and also the love of her life.

She put her knife down on her nightstand and continued to glare daggers at the stupid boy as she stalked over to the window and slammed it shut, causing Malcolm to stir and causing that idiotic chortling boy at the window to fall backward, startled… he stopped laughing for a mere few seconds, only long enough to let an "Oomf" escape his mouth… then he began laughing again… even more now while laying on his back. She crossed her arms and continued to glare daggers at him. The person on the receiving end of those dagger-eyes slowly stopped laughing and wiped a tear from his eye. He cleared his throat and stood up from the ground with his hands shoved in his pockets. He kept looking everywhere but Annabeth's eyes. Realizing she was not going to say anything without his eye contact, he slowly looked up from the ground and met her eyes. Her beautiful, but right now terrifying, stormy grey eyes. Seeing as she was seething with annoyance and that she couldn't hear through the still closed window, he nodded his head to the side; an indication for Annabeth to meet him out front of the Athena cabin. She made no indication that she understood, she just swiftly turned on her heels and walked briskly to the door, hoping to avoid any sort of confrontation with any of her step-siblings.

Unfortunately, most demigods, especially ones named Annabeth Chase, don't have the best of luck. Just as she reached the edge of the room, almost reaching the cabin door unnoticed, Maximos, a 5-year-old who had just come to camp a few days ago, tugged on the bottom of Annabeth's pajama pants. Annabeth looked down at him,

"I had um... a-a n-nightmare," He said looking down with a quivering lip. "W-will you s-stay with me?" He finished, looking back up with puppy dog eyes.

She just couldn't refuse… she remembered how she herself felt at age 7 with the nightmares… this little boy is 2 years younger than she was. She quickly let the glare plastered on her face melt away and soften into a slight but kind smile.

"Sure thing kiddo," she replied as she picked up little Max up in her arms.

He wrapped his arms around her neck as she carried him over to his bunk, right below a sleeping Antinet.

After about 10 minutes Annabeth got Maximos to fall asleep. She then got up to walk away and confront the prankster she got awoken by this morning outside her cabin. She saw Maximos toss and turn so she went over and whispered something in his ear; something she knew would help him feel safe, even with his nightmares. She leaned back and stood up straight and grinned as a small smile graced the 5-year-old's face…

_This is how things should be_ she thought.

Remembering why she was even awake, she furrowed her brows once more and turned sharply towards the cabin door glaring. She swiftly started marching towards it with her hands in fists straight down at her sides. She threw the cabin door open and marched outside into the cool air, almost slamming the door behind her before remembering that she would probably wake up her step-siblings in the process. She continued her fierce march down the cabin steps and stood at the bottom with her arms crossed and foot tapping, wondering where in Hades that boy was.

Out of seemingly nowhere, another bucket of water, feeling somehow colder this time, was dumped on Annabeth again; completely drenching her head to toe.

Annabeth stomped her foot and screamed as he jumped down from where he was perched, probably a tree or the cabin roof, landing in a squatting position on the ground. She glared daggers at him once again. Only this time, her eyes weren't the only daggers visible as she launched her previously sheathed weapon forward at him as he rose from the ground, slicing his upper bicep and piercing a tree trunk a couple of feet behind him.

As soon as she saw the blood dripping from his wound her hands flew up to cover her mouth as she gasped with wide eyes. She lurched forward and grabbed his arm, staring at it.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Oh, my gods, I'm so so sorry." she frantically whispered, not taking her eyes off of his bicep.

"Hey, Annabeth. Hey, hey, hey." He lifted his hand, the one attached to the arm that was not bleeding, and used a single finger to lift her chin so she would meet his eyes. He looked into her teary eyes.

"It's okay," he soothed. "It's just a little cut."

Meanwhile, a pool of blood was forming on the ground between himself and Annabeth.

"No it's not," Annabeth whimpered. "I got so mad I threw a dagger at you! What if I hit your chest? Or your throat? Or your face? Or your stomach? Or in your leg, hitting the artery? Or what if-"

"But you didn't," he cut her off, effectively stopping her rant.

"But I could have!" she argued.

"But. You. Didn't." he said sternly, looking her dead in the eyes.

"I just need to go see Will and then I'll be fine," he said regaining his laid-back composure.

He gave her one of his famous half-smiles... kind of reminds her of-NO… don't think of him. He's gone. He left nearly three months ago; disappeared without a trace. Thalia, her best friend, who hasn't been seen with the hunt for just as long as Percy has been gone, left her too...

"Okay," she replied softly, trying to forget that sea green-eyed and raven-haired boy that left her all alone, wondering where she went wrong.

* * *

**A/N: Welp that was chapter 1! I always kinda hated when authors posted short chapters but it's the first one just to get interests up I guess...**

**Sorry that Percy wasn't in this chapter, he'll either be in the second or third one!**

**So like I said this is my first published fanfiction and I HAD a pretty good idea of where I wanted this story to go but kinda forgot in the like 3-4 month span in which I forgot about this story.**

**Let me know what you think so far and if I should continue or not. As I said, I'm always open to suggestions and I'm always open to know how I can make this story better.**

**Byeee :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: HOLY CRAP I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LIKE YEAR LONG WAIT! I hate when an author writes a fic and then never finishes it and I'm like "welp… now I'm left on a cliffhanger for the rest of my life…" I got so super busy and then I just completely forgot that I was writing this. No matter how busy I get, I will never abandon this story. Updates will not be regular, sorry bout that, and I'll probably get writer's block a lot, but I'll keep writing. And as I said before, I'm always open to suggestions or if there are things you want to see in the fic let me know, I'm writing this for readers to enjoy!**

**Sorry if the ending of the last chapter was confusing… let me clarify: it was not Percy at camp with Annabeth the entire time, "that sea green-eyed and raven-haired boy that left her all alone, wondering where she went wrong" was referring to Percy, but he was not actually in the chapter yet. In a review I was asked to "protect the true essence of Percy's character" and I promise I will do my best to do just that. It's been about 2 1/2 years since I read the series so I'm sorry if anything crucial is inaccurate to the books but just let me know if anything inaccurate stands out. Somethings will have to inaccurate to the books though and some characters (like Annabeth) will have to be slightly OOC for the sake of this fanfic to be told smoothly.**

**I hate long Author's Notes; I'll try my best not to do long ones. So, without further ado, the next chapter!**

Disclaimer: I do not take credit for the creation of any of the characters or settings you recognize from Rick Riordan's books.

* * *

Annabeth POV

He gave her one of his famous half-smiles... kind of reminds her of-NO… don't think of him. He's gone. He left nearly three months ago; disappeared without a trace. Thalia, her best friend, who hasn't been seen with the hunt for just as long as Percy has been gone, left her too…

"Okay," she replied softly, trying to forget that sea green-eyed and raven-haired boy that left her all alone, wondering where she went wrong.

Seeing that his words did not soothe her worrying, he removed his shirt revealing a muscled and defined set of abs, and tied his shirt around the slit on his arm, concealing the origin of the blood flow. Annabeth saw this and shook her head slightly, smiling to herself. It was almost 4 in the morning now, the wind blowing and freezing, but Annabeth knew he would let himself freeze and run the risk of the cut becoming infected so that she wouldn't worry at the moment.

"Come here," she said, grabbing his good arm and pulling him behind herself. She marched up the stairs of her cabin with the shirtless boy in tow and sat him down on the bench beside the cabin door.

"Stay here," she commanded, pointing a finger at him and disappearing silently inside her cabin.

She reappeared outside after no more than a minute holding a big white box in her arms with a red plus sign on it. She walked past him and sat to the left of him on the bench. She opened the box and then untied the shirt from around his arm. She felt a wave of guilt wash over her as she removed the now blood-soaked shirt he attempted to use as a bandage and dropped it on the ground next to her.

_Okay, first thing to do is stop the bleeding._

She grabbed some gauze pads and placed them on his arm, instructing him to apply pressure until she got back. "I need to grab some water, I'll be right back."

Annabeth went back into her cabin and found a bowl full of scrolls on one of the desks. She went into the newly attached bathroom in her cabin, once again being grateful that Per-, she refused to even _think_ his name, he made the bathroom explode his first day. She washed out the bowl of dust and filled it with cold water, grabbing a washcloth before exiting the bathroom and making her way back outside.

She sat back down on the bench and placed the bowl of water and washcloth in between them.

"Let me see now," she said, taking his hand and removing the gauze. The released a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Well that's good: the bleeding stopped."

She took the washcloth and dipped it in the bowl of water, squeezing the water over the slit. She tried to ignore the hiss that came from his mouth, though she cringed a little and whispered a small "Sorry."

Once she was satisfied with the rinsing, she gingerly rubbed the remaining dried blood from off his arm. She used the antibacterial Nectbrosia (nectar and ambrosia) ointment created by her and Will and bandaged the slice on his arm.

"Okay, you should be completely fine in two days."

"My little medic," he joked pulling her into a hug.

"Oh shut up," Annabeth joked, shoving his chest. Though she leaned back against it, allowing him to put his arms over her shoulders and cross them in front of her. She rested her chin on his arms across her chest and they just stayed like that for a bit, looking at the stars still out, for it was only 4 am by now.

They talked for a while about architecture, how Annabeth could improve Olympus during her redesigning. The sun came up and they were still in the same position, watching the sky change colors from black to blue, purple, pink, orange and the other colors in between. It was Sunday, so the camp was allowed to sleep in and have a lazy day.

Once Annabeth saw the first camper emerge from their cabin, she reluctantly pushed his arms off from her chest and got up, picking up the nearly forgotten bloody shirt on the ground and placing it in a bag.

"Okay, we need to get ready for breakfast. I'll see you at the dining pavilion."

"Sounds good to me," he said, getting up from the bench. "I'm so hungry!" Annabeth chuckled softly as he towards her, giving her a peck on the lips before making his way down the stairs and towards the Hephaestus cabin.

She smiled, letting how a small contented sigh as he walked away. She gathered up the scattered contents of the white box and the bagged bloodied shirt and made her way inside her cabin, being sure not to wake her half-siblings.

She placed the white box back where it belonged and dumped the water from the bowl down the sink. She washed out the sink and the bowl and then checked her watch: 06:03. She still had almost 2 hours to sleep.

She proceeded to flop down onto her bed and fall asleep.

* * *

He's gone. He left nearly three months ago; disappeared without a trace. Thalia, her best friend, who hasn't been seen with the hunt for just as long as Percy has been gone, left her too…

"Okay," she replied softly, trying to forget that sea green-eyed and raven-haired boy that left her all alone, wondering where she went wrong

* * *

Thalia POV

Finally! It's all complete! Percy and Thalia went on a quest about three months ago for one very special reason: an engagement ring for Annabeth. They have both made it clear that they want to get married, and it was only a matter of time until Seaweed Brain caught on that Annabeth wanted the same thing he did.

They both agreed that they're too young to get married right now, as they're just barely 17, but they know that they want to in the future. Seaweed Brain calls it a "pre-proposal" ring (Thalia insists it's called a promise ring) and he's going to give it to Annabeth. He was too excited to just not do anything. Ever since they won the giant war they've been in a time of peace. Percy doesn't trust that it'll last too much longer; neither doos Thalia. So he feels he needs to do something to show Annabeth how much he loves her before something goes terribly wrong, which will, with their luck, no doubt happen soon enough.

They finally arrived at Camp Half-Blood after a week of traveling on foot. They stood at the bottom of the hill for a moment, taking in the sight they'd missed so much; they hadn't been back there in almost three months! Percy was standing beside Thalia, clutching a small grey velvet box to his chest, grinning from ear to ear and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

_My cousin is so childish_, she thought, chuckling softly to herself and shaking her head.

"What?" he asked, turning only his head to look at her.

"Nothing," she replied, "It's just so nice to see you so happy. After everything that's happened, you should be about ten times more depressed than Nico."

"Nico's lost more than I have," he replied solemnly looking at the ground now. "And he thinks that no one is there for him, I have all of you guys." He looked back up with a soft smile.

"Yeah, and without us, you'd be a lost puppy, _definitely_ worse off than Nico."

He cracked a full-on grin. _Thank goodness_, she thought, _I hadn't meant to make him upset_.

"Okay," she said, grabbing his shoulders and making him fully face her. "You're going to give a promise ring–"

"Pre-proposal ring," he corrected, lifting one finger.

"What_ever_. You're going to give this ring to your best friend, your girlfriend, first love, future wife, whatever you want to call her, but most importantly, she's my best friend. You hurt her, I will personally torture and kill you, make Nico bring you back from the dead and repeat the process. Remember now, I'm immortal."

"You know I'd never-"

"I know," she smirked. "I just like threatening you," she said with a shrug.

She stepped back, "Are you ready?"

"I think so…"

"That's not an answer. Come on," she said punching his shoulder. "She's going to accept it; there's no way she'll say no."

He nodded fiercely, "You're right." He faced the hill, "I'm ready."

"Then GO! GO GO GO!" and he sprinted up the hill before stopping at the top and walking down the other side to go find Annabeth.

Thalia smiled and walked up the hill to follow him from afar, hoping to eventually find a place to watch.

* * *

Annabeth POV

After breakfast, the two lovebirds walked into the forest, though they did so separately. They met up in a small clearing they had claimed as their secret spot, a spot no one even knew existed, for it was much further in the forest than anyone ever went, even during capture the flag. They sat against a tree in the small clearing, Annabeth's head on his chest, one of his arms around her. They were just enjoying the peace, listening to the animals in the forest. That ended shortly as they both pulled out their books. They both scooted away from the tree a bit and flopped down onto their stomachs in front of the tree. They remained like that for a long while until he sat up and scooped Annabeth onto his lap.

"Nooo! It was just getting to the good part!"

"Oh, you'll live."

Now sitting in his lap, Annabeth crossed her arms in front of her chest and pretended to pout.

"Oh come on Annabeth," he said. "This'll be a better paaaarrrrt," he said in a sing-songy voice.

Annabeth raised her eyebrow at him, "Oh really?"

"Definitely," he said nodding his head and smirking.

Lifting her chain, she challenged, "Prove it."

"My pleasure," he said still smirking. He placed one hand on her hip and used the other to lift her chin while he leaned down to kiss her.

Annabeth leaned into the kiss of growing passionate, one of her hands getting lost in his hair while the other supported her against the tree.

Hand no longer on her chin, he wrapped both arms around her back and flipped her around. Gaining a shriek from Annabeth that turned into a giggle as they momentarily broke apart when she was flipped in the air.

She was now on the ground staring up at him with a pout and puppy-dog eyes "Was that it?" she asked.

"Never," he replied, diving back into the kiss and earning a smirk from Annabeth as she did the same. Her hands were wrapped in his hair as one of his cupped the side of her face and the other supported him from the ground.

The passion of the kiss grew until he broke apart, slowing spreading kisses down her body. He kissed her neck and then moved down, lifting her t-shirt to kiss her stomach. He moved back up her body to her neck again, staying there a bit longer, and releasing a small moan from Annabeth. He smiled against her skin, and she felt it. She grabbed his face and kissed him again, this time flipping him so that she was on top, straddling his waist. She did just what he did: broke the passionate kiss and spread kisses down his body. Only this time, she removed his shirt completely. She went down his neck to his chest and then to his stomach, moving back up to his neck and then to his jawline, until she felt she had teased him enough and went back to just kissing him on the lips.

* * *

Percy POV

_Okay_, he thought, _all I have to do is get to Annabeth and the rest will come naturally_.

Where she was though, he had no idea. How to find her, he also had no idea.

He figured the best thing to do was to tell Chiron he was back. Though his mentor knew why he was gone and where he had gone, he must've been worried. Percy started heading in a different direction.

"Percy," Thalia called from behind, running to catch up to him. "Why are you going to the Big House?"

"Thought it would be a good idea to like Chiron know we're back right?"

Thalia pondered for half a second and replied, "Yeah you're right, we'll find Annie later."

Percy scrunched his eyebrows and looked at Thalia, "You know she hates that name right?"

"Only when other people say it," Thalia replied, waving a hand and walking past him. "Let's go Kelp Head, the quicker we do this the quicker you can give Annabeth your _promise ring_." she continued, emphasizing the last two words as she called over her shoulder.

"It's a pre-proposal ring!" Percy complained for the hundredth time.

"What_ever_! Let's just go!" she shouted as she continued walking toward the Big House.

"Yes sir lieutenant, pinecone face, sir." Percy faked a salute and jogged to catch up to Thalia. Once he got there she punched him in the arm.

"I really don't know what Annabeth sees in you," Thalia said jokingly, shaking her head.

"Me neither, but I'm glad she does," Percy answered, smiling that stupid smile he smiles whenever he talks or even thinks about Annabeth. Thalia shook her head once more as they continued their walk to the Big House.

They arrived at the Big House and walked in, being greeted with a welcome from Chiron, who was out of his wheelchair.

"Percy my boy!" he said as he galloped over to the two entering demigods.

"Hello, Chiron."

"It's good to see you back in one piece. You too Thalia."

"Thank you, Chiron."

"I assume it went well?" Chiron continued with a smile.

"Of course. I got Athena's blessing and even got her and Haphestus' help with the ring."

Percy opened the small grey velvet box to reveal the most perfect ring he could ever imagine for Annabeth.

"It's incredible! It's beautiful! It's-it's-"

"Perfect?" supplied Thalia.

"Yes. Yes, quite perfect for Annabeth." Chiron said.

The grin on Percy's face widened, if that was even possible.

"Oh thank goodness. I was worried it wouldn't be good enough."

Thalia cupped her hand around her mouth, though she didn't do much to lower the volume of her voice, and lent into Chiron as he bent down to hear her, "The entire way back he wouldn't shut up about how he was worried she would say no because she didn't like the ring."

"Oh shut up Thals." Percy punched her arm and faked a glare at her.

"Oh come on Perce, the ring is fine!"

"I sure hope so," he said looking at the ring one last time as he closed the box.

"Now go on," Chiron said, pushing the two demigods out. "I think I saw Annabeth venture into the forest with a book shortly after breakfast. She's probably still there, sitting against a tree reading that book."

"Thanks Chiron!" Percy shouted as he took off toward the forest, Thalia steps behind.

When they reached the treeline of the forest Percy slowly transitioned into a walk, not in the mood to run face-first into a branch or tree he didn't see or faceplant into the dirt after tripping on a tree root. The two cousins kept walking for a really long time until he finally leaned against a tree and slid down.

"We've been searching this forest from one end to the next for hours!" Percy complained pushing his head on the tree trunk behind and looking up.

"What if she's not even in here anymore? What if she was never in here in the first place?"

Thalia flicked him the side of the head, "Chiron said she came in here with a book, you really think she'd leave any quiet spot she found before finishing it?"

"No," Percy replied, looking down as he pulled the small grey velvet box out of his pocket.

A smile broke out on his face, "You're rights Thals!" He said getting up.

"Helloooo," she replied. "When am I not?"

"Oh shut up Pinecone Face," he said shoving her arm.

"I've been trying to tell you this for years, not my fault it never sinks in Kelp Head."

Percy rolled his eyes and continued to smile, "We just have the area in the back left of the forest to cover, so let's go." and once again he was off.

He heard a shriek from what he figured could only be Annabeth.

His eyes widened, "Annabeth is in trouble!"

He took off at a run towards the sound, only to hear Thalia shouts "Wait up!" before tripping on a tree root and tumbling to the ground, falling behind.

Percy knew she'd be fine and that she'd catch up eventually. What he didn't know though, was the scene he'd be faced with upon his arrival.

He stopped at the edge of the clearing, hidden between some trees and bushes. He saw Annabeth straddling some camper he barely recognized, the two of them deep in a passionate kiss. He stood there frozen, unsure of what to do, as he heard his own heart shatter in his chest.

* * *

**Woah! More than double the words from last chapter! Hopefully, my chapters will usually be this long, or longer. I hate a bunch of tiny chapters lol.**

**Whoops, sorry bout the cliff hanger btw! (not really) Hehehe, don't hate me!**

**I would love to keep writing but I have a huge project I need to work on for school so once I get that done I'll get back to writing. It's been like 9 months since I last posted and unlike last time, I have a bunch of ideas on how to continue!**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are enjoying this story so far!**

**As always, let me know what you think so far and I'm always open to suggestions and I'm always open to know how I can make this story better.**

**One request: I'm trying to think of a name for this mystery dude. He is a son of Hephestus and I was doing a bunch of googling of like "Greek boy names that start with H" and even "Greek boy names that mean fire/flame/spark and start with H" (have you ever noticed Annabeth daughter of Athena, Percy, son of Poseidon… the child's name starts with the first letter of their parent's name. I know that is not always the case in the world of Rick Riordan but it sometimes happened and I liked that.) Anyway, if you have any suggestions or a name you think would fit him let me know! Thanks a bunch!**

**Until next time,**

**Byeee :)**


End file.
